BS: Men & Washing Machines???

Subject: BS: Men & Washing Machines???
From: Bobert
Date: 22 Jul 12 - 09:52 PM

Okay, let me be the first man on the planet to admit to being clueless about washing machines... Mine??? A Kenmore... The P-vine knows exactly what it does... Me??? 5 foreign dials with stuff that are Greek...

So, guys... You comfy with the washing machine??? I ain't...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: Men & Washing Machines???
From: EBarnacle
Date: 22 Jul 12 - 09:54 PM

You ain't never lived as a bachelor and had to do this for yourself.

Subject: RE: BS: Men & Washing Machines???
From: Bobert
Date: 22 Jul 12 - 09:58 PM

Yup, E-barn... Well, not exactly... There have been these lapses where I would go to the laundry-mat and stick quarters in 'um... Been a long time... All I know is that you have the whites and the colors??? Not much more...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: Men & Washing Machines???
From: GUEST,punkfolkrocker
Date: 22 Jul 12 - 10:02 PM

The controls are kinda like using a modern 21st Century Guitar amp.

Amps tend to be black and washing machines white

- helps avoid confusion and potential water conducted lethal electric shocks.

Though some guitar FX pedals can sound like washing machines.

Hope that helps ????

Subject: RE: BS: Men & Washing Machines???
From: bobad
Date: 22 Jul 12 - 10:08 PM

Hey guys - ever wonder what would happen if you threw a brick into a washing machine?

Check it out

Subject: RE: BS: Men & Washing Machines???
From: Leadfingers
Date: 22 Jul 12 - 10:11 PM

I use the 'cowards ' technique - Dont buy ANY clothing that needs anything but 'mixed' wash ! Throw it ALL in together - Not had any strange colur changes or shrinkages yet .!

Subject: RE: BS: Men & Washing Machines???
From: Beer
Date: 22 Jul 12 - 10:12 PM

That was cruel.
ad.

Subject: RE: BS: Men & Washing Machines???
From: Bobert
Date: 22 Jul 12 - 10:13 PM

Reminds me...

Stokley Carmichael was in Sears lookin' for a washing machine and the salesman came up and asked, "Can I help you?" and so...

...Stokley says, "Hey, all these washing machines are white, man... What's with that?"...

...and without missing a beat the salesman opened the top to one of them white washing machines and said "Yes, but inside everyone of them is a black agitator"...

Never mind... Dumb joke...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: Men & Washing Machines???
From: Beer
Date: 22 Jul 12 - 10:16 PM

When we got married some 40 years ago I decided to be a liberated husband and did a wash when me wife was at work. I had to wear pink underwear for a long time afterwords.
Adrien

Subject: RE: BS: Men & Washing Machines???
From: Bobert
Date: 22 Jul 12 - 10:22 PM

You still wearing pink undies, beer???

B~

Subject: RE: BS: Men & Washing Machines???
From: gnu
Date: 22 Jul 12 - 10:48 PM

There is not a woman I know that wouldn't freak out if she saw me adding the detergent to an empty tub followed by adding the clothes followed by starting the washer. My ex went off the deep end first time she saw me do it... even when I showed her the directions on the underside of the lid she still was adamant that the washer be started first on accounta that's "the way it's done".

Women!

Subject: RE: BS: Men & Washing Machines???
From: Bobert
Date: 22 Jul 12 - 10:54 PM

Ya' got that right, Gn-ze...

Women!!!

B~

Subject: RE: BS: Men & Washing Machines???
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 22 Jul 12 - 11:00 PM

My washing machine has only two dials. For the DH one always stays on 'Delicate' and the other one always stays on 'Full.' He seems to be able to handle it intellectually.

Five dials seems like too many to me, Bobert. Life is complicated enough without five dials.

I was surprised to learn from friends that their high-tech washer takes 52 minutes to do a load of clothes. (And that's the quick and dirty cycle. It could take 84 minutes if you let it.) I bet our washer does a load in less than 15.

You make me feel so lucky.

Subject: RE: BS: Men & Washing Machines???
From: Beer
Date: 22 Jul 12 - 11:01 PM

No..........long gone Bobert.
But to be honest for a moment. I do the wash and all the ironing. the wash is easy and the ironing I like to do which my wife does not. It was my earlier training when i lived with my sister and her navy husband who was rarely home that got me trained. Dishes as well. No problem.
ad.

Subject: RE: BS: Men & Washing Machines???
From: Leadfingers
Date: 22 Jul 12 - 11:08 PM

I spent fourteen years doing 'Hand wash' of my Civilian shirts , socks , Y fronts etc when I was in the R A F - Having a REAL washing machine would have been Luxury !

Subject: RE: BS: Men & Washing Machines???
From: Rapparee
Date: 22 Jul 12 - 11:18 PM

My very, very last MOS in the National Guard was 57E40 -- Bath and Laundry Platoon Sergeant (and Platoon Leader -- we were short officers). So for about 18 months I worked with washing machines and dryers. BIG ones, expensive ones, mounted on trailers. I had 40 guys who'd been to laundry school (nope, not me!).

Yeah, I know something about washing machines...and dryers, too. One thing I know is that you don't paint the microswitches or the dryer doesn't work and you have to wring out wool blankets by hand after the Adjutant General comes comes snooping around.

(There was also a Graves Registration Section attached to the Platoon. THEY spent their two weeks of summer camp in a tent, pretty much left alone, with a lovely area they'd measured and mowed and used as a practice area for golf shots.)

Subject: RE: BS: Men & Washing Machines???
From: GUEST,marks
Date: 23 Jul 12 - 02:34 AM

You put it in dirty and it comes out kinda clean or at least close enough for guys.
Just use the dial settings wherever she left then last. If she grumps, you can say you were just following her lead!

Subject: RE: BS: Men & Washing Machines???
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 23 Jul 12 - 02:42 AM

That's dubious advice, marks. Suppose she left the water on 'minimum' but Bobert put in a full load of clothes. The clothes wouldn't get clean, they be all crinkled, and they'd be saturated with detergent.

Washers: dangerous in the hands of the uninitiated.

That wouldn't be as bad as overloading the thing, which can lead to the motor burning out and the house filling with smoke.

Bobert, why don't you take the profits from selling the hickory to the BBQ and get yourself a washer with one dial on it?

Subject: RE: BS: Men & Washing Machines???
From: Jack the Sailor
Date: 23 Jul 12 - 03:12 AM

Gnu did you ever wonder about the crusty white residue on the bottom layer of clothes?

Subject: RE: BS: Men & Washing Machines???
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 23 Jul 12 - 04:13 AM

1. RTFM.

Subject: RE: BS: Men & Washing Machines???
From: GUEST,Shimrod
Date: 23 Jul 12 - 04:38 AM

I just put some sheets into my washing machine. I routinely wash everything at 50 degrees C - and occasionally at 60. Seems to work OK.

It's getting the damn stuff dry that's the problem! We're having some fine weather at the moment (after months of rain) and I can hang stuff up outside.

I'm sure, though, that if there was a lady in my household she would tell me that I was doing it 'wrong' ... there are some advantages to be a bachelor ...

Subject: RE: BS: Men & Washing Machines???
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 23 Jul 12 - 05:03 AM

story from years ago - a friend reported her husband did the washing - top item was a fancy pink satin bedspread - he poured in bleach.

result - a gi-normus white spot (out, damned spot!) in the middle of the now ruined quilt.

modern story - 2 weeks ago I bought a bottle of laundry liquid concentrate. The lid was so much smaller than the lid on the precious brand that I used 1.5 lids worth for the first load.

Result - soapy smelling washing that needed washing again.

sandra (not picking on men)

Subject: RE: BS: Men & Washing Machines???
From: gnu
Date: 23 Jul 12 - 05:49 AM

"Gnu did you ever wonder about the crusty white residue on the bottom layer of clothes?"

Never happened yet and I've been doing my own laundry for 37 years. Yes, even while I was married. I was a modern married man... I did half of the "woman's work" and all of the man's work.

Matter of fact, today is laundry day for Mum's stuff. Good thing I do it in my house. >;-)

I should mention, for Bobert's sake, that, as a man: I use about 1/3 of the recommended amount of soap; I never fully load* the washer (see leeneia's comment); when I use bleach I add the load after the washer has agitated for 30 seconds); when I use bleach to do dish rags and real dirty stuff, I put in 4 times the recommended amount and let the load soak overnight; I never, EVER, say, "Oh. That'll come out in the wash... when I spill something on my clothes or bleed on something I attack it immediately with a hand wash until it's clean.

* Think about abusing your tractor's tranny. When the front wheels lift, it's time to dynamite the tree stump. I suppose that would work on tough laundry stains too.

Subject: RE: BS: Men & Washing Machines???
From: Roger the Skiffler
Date: 23 Jul 12 - 06:07 AM

SWMBO has complete confidence in my ability to operate our machine, empty it, tumble or line dry, fold & air and even lets me do my own ironing. In case I die first I'll have to show her where I keep the vacuum cleaner.
In public I only use the acoustic washboard.

RtS

Subject: RE: BS: Men & Washing Machines???
From: Rapparee
Date: 23 Jul 12 - 09:38 AM

Bobert, you could always take the stuff out to the creek and wash it there. Really dirty stuff can be cleaned if you rub it on the rocks.

Subject: RE: BS: Men & Washing Machines???
From: John P
Date: 23 Jul 12 - 10:21 AM

And people wonder what I'm talking about when I say that women's liberation is finished yet.

Subject: RE: BS: Men & Washing Machines???
From: GUEST,Eliza
Date: 23 Jul 12 - 10:24 AM

How pathetic! Men are adults with brains(allegedly). If women can work out how to use them, so can men. My husband can, and he'd never even SEEN a washing machine in Africa. And don't start on about women not managing machinery or car technical stuff, 'cos I do and so does my widowed sister. Smacked bottoms the lot of you! And early to bed!!!

Subject: RE: BS: Men & Washing Machines???
From: GUEST
Date: 23 Jul 12 - 10:51 AM

Sandra - I use powder - but I have noticed that some of the liquid detergents that had a cap sized to give the correct dose now carry flashes on the label indicating the contents are now super-concentrated - but they haven't changed the cap size accordingly. I am sure it's deliberate - unsuspecting customers end up buyin two or three times as much as they need.

Happy washday!

Ross

Subject: RE: BS: Men & Washing Machines???
From: frogprince
Date: 23 Jul 12 - 02:10 PM

Ah, yes: once upon a time, one of the first times I used the washers in the basement of the student dorm. Up until then, I had a nice powder blue dress shirt, and a pair of dark green slacks. After that, I had a nice light-mint-green dress shirt.

Subject: RE: BS: Men & Washing Machines???
From: Bobert
Date: 23 Jul 12 - 02:20 PM

Thanks for the spankin', Eliza... Kinda needed one...

Still ain't into them washing mo-chines, tho...

B;~)

Subject: RE: BS: Men & Washing Machines???
From: artbrooks
Date: 23 Jul 12 - 02:31 PM

I have no problem at all running the washing machine. All (3) of the dials are clearly marked, and the temp. rarely leaves 'cold'. Herself fixes it when it breaks, however.

Subject: RE: BS: Men & Washing Machines???
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 23 Jul 12 - 03:50 PM

In general most women are less competent with car technicalities and indeed with fine car control. Some are better than some men, but on the average...

Best bet is to evaluate on an individual basis. My late wife once drove Lola-Chevs at Brands Hatch - but I was not keen on her driving although she was even less keen on mine. I know another woman who is pretty good with the mechanical side of old motor-bikes and when she gets her licence back I'm sure I will be happy both to pillion behind her and to let her drive my cherished Volvos.

On the other hand, trying to get out of a soggy field at a recent folk ale, there was a strong correlation between gender and ability to get the vehicle out of the mud.

Subject: RE: BS: Men & Washing Machines???
From: Bill D
Date: 23 Jul 12 - 04:47 PM

I can use washing machines... and dryers. And I often do some of my wife's stuff: following HER instructions.

The dials & settings have a purpose...various speeds, loead sizes, temperatures, extra rinses...etc. My work jeans need different settings than sheets & pillow cases.. it's not rocket surgery.

No matter WHAT the instruction MAY say, I put in some soap (determined by the size & type of load), then as water begins to swirl the soap around so it's not all in one place, I slowly add clothes. I almost always allow a 2nd rinse, as wife is sensitive to chemicals, and we want no itches.

Same with dryer... different loads need some varied heat & timing.... my work jeans and heavy towels are not particular.

Gee, Bobert...you can tear a motor apart and do 237 complex things with an old building. Washers & dryers are easy!

Subject: RE: BS: Men & Washing Machines???
From: Ebbie
Date: 23 Jul 12 - 05:07 PM

In the olden days of television, they showed the salesman demonstrating the features of a modern washer to the husband. True story.

Subject: RE: BS: Men & Washing Machines???
From: Amos
Date: 23 Jul 12 - 05:19 PM

I kinda SUS pect that where there is a gap, it is not about the machine, but about what it is for. The instinctive affection between men and laundry is about at the level of that between women and frogs. There are always exceptions--vide those upthread--but I am saying in general it is a thing men learn late in life, if ever. But given them an old washer to take apart, and they're happy as kings and will fix it for you if it is possible to do so. Even with five dials!


A

Subject: RE: BS: Men & Washing Machines???
From: Rapparee
Date: 23 Jul 12 - 07:10 PM

Shucks, I learned to do laundry on an old wringer-washer. Learned to iron about the same time.

That's why I buy wrinkle-free clothes....

Subject: RE: BS: Men & Washing Machines???
From: Bobert
Date: 23 Jul 12 - 07:17 PM

You ain't never washed no clothes, Rap, so quit with all these stories about how you took yer dirty clothes and washed 'um in mosquito infested cricks and beat 'um on rocks... The only thing you beat on a rock was yer head... That explains why you have all these delusional memories of stuff that never happened...

Now fess up and you will be set free...

B;~)

Subject: RE: BS: Men & Washing Machines???
From: GUEST,Chongo Chimp
Date: 24 Jul 12 - 12:01 AM

I love the video where the guy throws the brick into the washing machine. Ook! Ook! Great dance moves by the washer, though I figger it was the "last dance" for that machine. Anyway, what he did there was just what every Chimp longs to do with a washer or a dryer. Another thing we all wanta do is drop a grand piano off the observation deck at the Grand Canyon. Or maybe release one right at the top of the Great Pyramid and watch it head rapidly down the slopin' side hoppin' and bouncin' on its way to the desert below...take bets on how far down it gets before it disintegrates totally. Yessir, good clean fun.

- Chongo

Subject: RE: BS: Men & Washing Machines???
From: JennieG
Date: 24 Jul 12 - 01:41 AM

When both of my sons left high school they were each presented with their own laundry basket and given a lesson in how to use the machine - after that, it was up to them. Older son soon learned not to leave wet washing in the machine until he was good and ready to hang it on the line......a pair of red underpants and a white shirt lying wet against each other for an hour or so was one of Life's Little Lessons. Laundry is a chore shared by Himself and me, whoever gets to the machine first when the dirty clothed basket is full does the washing.

Cheers
JennieG

Subject: RE: BS: Men & Washing Machines???
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 24 Jul 12 - 07:42 AM

Only slightly off topic - I had a problem with a dryer.

The problem was that "she" decided the dryer made a funny noise.

We were in Yuma AZ at the time, and the nearest "repair persons" were in Phoenix, about 170 miles away.

After the second repair person was unable to find anything wrong with it, she continued her complaints so I announced that I'd found the problem and ordered a part.

She was happy, so I didn't tell her that I never got around to installing the part.

Twenty years later, I got rid of her, but got to keep the dryer.

Ten years after that, after the dryer had been sitting out in the rain in Seattle (on the apartment balcony - the apartment had a built-in washer & dryer), I got an offer from someone willing to buy the #@$!^# dryer, but when I plugged it in to make sure it still worked ....

IT NEEDED THE PART.

So I installed it.

"New she" wasn't impressed that I had the part.

She was impressed that I knew exactly where it was.

John

Subject: RE: BS: Men & Washing Machines???
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 24 Jul 12 - 09:30 AM

I'm impressed, too, John.

I think women in general tend to know more about their clothes. When I'm sorting clothes, I know what's polyester, what's cotton, what's nylon, what's knit, what's woven. It's a skill that can be learned, just like looking at the plants in the yard and knowing what's a weed and what's a flower.

I used to work in a fabric store. I was impressed when I started because the manager could touch fabric and tell if it was 100% cotton or a cotton-poly blend. In time, I learned to do it too.

Since these different fibers need different handling, they make doing the laundry seem mysterious. Fortunately, my husband's clothes are almost all cotton, so he doesn't have to worry about it.
=========
Shimrod: have you tried drying the sheets by throwing them over a rack and operating a fan?

Subject: RE: BS: Men & Washing Machines???
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 24 Jul 12 - 10:02 AM

Casting aspersions about woman and machinery will get some of you into trouble. Just so you know.

The problem some of you guys might be encountering is that you didn't read the instructions on the given machine. For years I used my washer the way Gnu described - I turned on the water, put the soap in the bottom as it filled, then added the clothes. I had to set the anticipated level and add the right amount of detergent.

A few years ago that washer was dead on it's feet. I called Sears to have a serviceman come fix it. They offered to sell me an annual service plan for $259. That would cover the entire repair, but if the machine wasn't repairable (if the estimate was over $500), the repair guy would pronounce it dead and they would give me a $500 credit toward a new machine. I'm pretty good at the math and I figured the machine was dead, so I'd bought it 8 years earlier. The fact that they would sell such a plan was staggering, so I jumped on it.

The machine was pronounced dead and they did offer the $500 credit. Later that week I found a $900 high-end machine on sale and had to pay the $100 difference between the credit and the sales price. That was $359 well spent.

This machine is energy star and the instructions are different, so I don't put the soap in the same way. Now I fill the washer with laundry, I add the baking soda (helps the detergent get the clothes cleaner), any dry bleach, and the liquid soap all into a little slot at the top of the machine. I don't tell it what amount of water, it senses the level of the laundry. I do tell it to wash on cold most of the year, our tap water temperature is fine for laundry purposes. I can set this puppy so that it delays running for up to 8 hours so if I set it at bedtime it can run at 4 in the morning when we're not threatened with brown outs during hot weather, etc. It sounds like a rocketship getting ready to launch when it spins, but it spins so dry that if I use the dryer it doesn't take long. I mostly hang it out on the line in the summer.

I taught my kids how to use the old washer, and they know how to use the new washer. My daughter does a lot of sewing so got the hang of the washer early - you don't want to create something then destroy it when laundering. My son has been away at college for the last two years, where he probably throws it all in together - his boxers are various colored prints, his socks are black, and he mostly wears jeans and black t-shirts and undershirts.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Men & Washing Machines???
From: GUEST,Eliza
Date: 24 Jul 12 - 10:20 AM

Men seem generally to prefer to smell a bit. They have the male attitude to leaving their odour around. We women however like things fresh and clean. I wash things my husband wouldn't necessarily consider 'dirty'. But he does as much laundry as me, and always does the ironing as he enjoys it. (!)

Subject: RE: BS: Men & Washing Machines???
From: saulgoldie
Date: 24 Jul 12 - 10:47 AM

Wait, how'd we get from washing machines to hygiene? Oh, right. Anyway...

Bobert, I will be glad to personally come down there and tchow you how it's done, if'n you kin hook me up, if you knowhutamean, and I think you KNOW what I mean!

Saul

Subject: RE: BS: Men & Washing Machines???
From: EBarnacle
Date: 24 Jul 12 - 11:07 AM

Leaving laundry in the machine for a while is a sure invitation to fungus on the clothes. At the least, a rewash should be called for.

As far as the amount of detergent, if you use the recommended amount, you will find some beautiful suds. That is wasted soap. Use between 2/3 and half the specified amount and your clothes will not smell of detergent.

Subject: RE: BS: Men & Washing Machines???
From: Ebbie
Date: 24 Jul 12 - 11:48 AM

JohninKansas, your story lacks a certain- what would you call it - integrity?

In truth, your then-wife was obviously correct: There was something wrong with the dryer. Would you agree that her ear was more sensitive than yours to the subtle?

Reminds me of when I bought the best little car I ever owned. It was three years old and there was *something* wrong with it even though the shop foreman didn't agree.

I took it on a test drive twice then asked the foreman to drive it with me in the car. I told him that when I stepped on the gas, there was a peculiar lag in its response, that you could feel it in your foot. He said, I don't feel anything. This is a great little car.

Well, I agreed. And eleven days after I bought it, the whole distribution system went out.

They fixed it at no cost to me.

Subject: RE: BS: Men & Washing Machines???
From: Bobert
Date: 24 Jul 12 - 12:58 PM

Thanks for the offer, Saul, but ignorance is bliss and, unless I gotta learn up the washing machine think I'll just remain in bliss-ville...

Yo Magz... "Instructions"... Not familiar with that word... What does it mean???

B~

Subject: RE: BS: Men & Washing Machines???
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 24 Jul 12 - 01:20 PM

"...let me be the first man on the planet to admit to being clueless about washing machines... "

I hardly think so. There might be an assumption that men tend to be into electrical gadgets of various sorts, but washing machines are definitely an exception.

Subject: RE: BS: Men & Washing Machines???
From: ranger1
Date: 24 Jul 12 - 01:20 PM

My dad and my step-dad both knew how to do laundry. My dad taught me about sorting clothes and ironing. He also taught me how to make my bed. When he was done demonstrating, he bounced a quarter on it. I never got that good at bed-making, but my clothing stays the proper colors and sizes when I wash and dry it. I don't let J-boy do my laundry any more. He did them once, and my uniform t-shirts were all an interesting shade of pinkish-grey and my spiffy socks were all doll-sized when he got done. Somewhere, my dad is having a mighty good laugh...

Subject: RE: BS: Men & Washing Machines???
From: Ebbie
Date: 24 Jul 12 - 02:55 PM

Ah, but someone *taught* your dad, Rangerthewee (It was the military, right?). J-Boy's heart is in the right place but he needs to involve his head too. *g*